Disasters: Year In Review 1999

The following list records the major disasters that occurred in 1999. Events included in this feature involved the loss of 15 or more lives and/or significant damage to property.

Aviation

January 21, Near Bluefields, Nic. A military cargo plane en route to Bluefields went down along the Atlantic coast; all 28 persons aboard the craft were killed.

February 2, Luanda, Angola. A passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff, slamming into several houses before exploding in flames; 19 persons were killed.

February 24, Near Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China. An airliner with 61 persons aboard crashed in a farm field and exploded; there were no survivors.

March 7, Near New Delhi. After striking an electric wire, an air force transport plane plunged into a residential area and exploded; 22 persons died.

March 16, Near Sobolevo, Russia. A helicopter carrying 26 persons, most of them construction workers, crashed about 30 km (18 mi) from Sobolevo; 19 persons were killed.

June 3, Eastern Sudan. An air force plane crashed in the desert about 80 km (50 mi) east of Khartoum after a technical failure caused the pilot to lose control of the craft; all 50 persons aboard the craft were killed.

June 17, Near Goroka, Papua New Guinea. A small passenger plane with 17 persons aboard went down in mountainous terrain; there were no survivors.

August 7, Santo Antão Island, Cape Verde. A passenger plane slammed into a cliff while flying in fog and rain; all 18 persons aboard died.

August 31, Buenos Aires, Arg. A Boeing 737 jetliner veered from the runway on takeoff, crashed through an airport fence, plowed across a busy highway, and came to rest in flames on a nearby golf course; at least 64 persons aboard the plane and another 10 on the ground were killed.

September 5, Near Kathmandu, Nepal. A passenger plane struck a telecommunications tower while descending to land; all 15 persons aboard the plane died.

October 31, Off the coast of Nantucket, Mass. An EgyptAir Boeing 767-300 en route from New York to Cairo with 217 persons aboard plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean, killing everyone aboard; the cause of the crash was unknown, although investigators found no evidence that mechanical or weather problems were to blame and analysis of cockpit voice tapes indicated a struggle for control of the plane among members of the crew.

November 10, Near Uruapan, Mex. A DC-9 bound for Mexico City crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 18 persons aboard the craft.

November 12, Northern Kosovo. A UN airplane transporting humanitarian workers to the province slammed into a mountain, killing all 24 persons aboard.

December 7, Northern Philippines. A twin-engine plane with 17 persons aboard crashed in mountainous terrain in Nueva Vizcaya province after encountering rain and fog; there were no survivors.

December 11, Azores archipelago, Portugal. A plane flying through heavy fog crashed into a mountain, killing all 35 persons aboard.

December 22, Guatemala City, Guat. A Cuban airliner transporting Guatemalan students home for the holidays skidded off a runway after touching down and slammed into nearby homes; at least 26 persons died, and 44 were injured.

December 25, Near Valencia, Venez. A Cuban airliner en route to Valencia crashed on a mountainside while making its approach to land; all 22 persons aboard the plane were killed.

Fires and Explosions

March 14, New Delhi. At least 22 persons were killed and thousands were left homeless after a fire swept through a crowded slum; the blaze, whose cause was unknown, was fanned by strong winds and rapidly destroyed more than 1,000 thatched-roof huts.

March 18, Mikhaylovskoye, Russia. An electrical fault ignited a fire in a mental institution that claimed the lives of at least 21 persons.

March 24–26, Near Mont Blanc, France. A fire raged for two days inside the Mont Blanc tunnel connecting France and Italy; the blaze started on a truck at the midpoint of the 11.6-km (7.2-mi)-long tunnel; at least 42 persons died.

Early April, Northern China. A forest fire in a mountainous area of Shanxi province claimed the lives of 23 persons who were fighting the blaze.

May 16, Punjab province, Pak. An overturned tanker truck loaded with gasoline exploded, killing at least 65 persons who were trying to collect fuel leaking from the tanker.

May 31, New Delhi. A chemical explosion caused a fire in a storehouse that killed at least 16 persons and injured 42 others.

June 12, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. A fire trapped workers at an electronics factory; 16 persons were killed, and 8 were injured.

June 30, Hwasung, S.Kor. Sparks from mosquito coils ignited a fire that swept through a three-story dormitory building at a summer camp; 23 persons, including 19 children, died in the blaze; after reports surfaced that the building violated safety regulations, authorities arrested a dozen people, including the camp’s owner and the architects who designed the building.

Late July, Qadih, Saudi Arabia. At least 44 members of a wedding party, including the bride and eight of her relatives, died when the main tent at the wedding caught fire; more than 100 were injured.

September 26, Celaya, Mex. A blast in an illegal fireworks warehouse triggered a series of explosions in a crowded market; at least 56 persons died, and 348 were injured.

October 30, Inchon, S.Kor. A fire swept through a crowded tavern that illegally catered to minors, killing 55 persons, most of them teenagers, and injuring at least 70.

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